Northwestern: Totally Mobbed Up
I've just started reading Supermob by Gus Russo, about a cabal of mob-connected money men who rose from Maxwell Street and Lawndale to become the biggest silent power players in Hollywood. And as I read, I'm noticing some suspiciously familiar names from my NU days.
Like Annenberg, named for the family of TV Guide founder Walter Annenberg ... whose father Moe ran a nationwide racing wire service tied in with Al Capone's bookies.
Or Crown -- Rebecca Crown was the wife of Henry Crown, a major businessman tied to both the mob and any number of corrupt politicians.
Nice to know our beloved alma mater runs, at least in part, on what was once the spoils of graft and organized crime. (=
Labels: chicago, mob, Northwestern, NU
posted by Nato @ 8:39 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Was there anything in there about Beinen and the Pepsi Cartel?
you're thinking of arnie weber and his ability to make it rain pepsi. :-)
Screw Arnie Weber and His Ability To Make It Rain Pepsi. They got nothin'
Oh dear! how did I mess that up?
Maybe the mob ties are why we really weren't "allowed" in the sub-basement of CRC. Those of you who went down there, did you see, maybe, Al Capone's REAL vault? :)
The Secret Sub-Basement That Totally Does Not Contain Dead Jimmy Hoffa. That's got a nice ring to it.
Henry Crown wasn't directly mobbed up, it turns out, but his company did scam millions in government graft -- the Halliburton of his day! -- and successfully managed to cheat a woman who'd invested her life savings at the company's founding out of a $100 million stock payday decades later.
So, business as usual in Chicago, basically.
I can't remember what I saw down there, but it was fairly unexciting. Except for the part where I heard a noise behind me, jumped, squealed, and scurried back about 5 steps towards the door before realizing it was nothing.
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